Myth busted- drove a SUV over Rimutakas. They can be steered

[Ocean1]

A Range Raper Sport.

Same vehicle. Different trim.

Those big Audis & Beemers have no lane discipline & rubbish mirrors. I've also noticed the person driving at me is wearing a shirt & talking on a mobile.

Poor decisions in vehicle selection are usually synonymous with poor behaviour in other areas.

[SMOKEU]

Most are fitted with automatic gearboxes .... not much engine braking there.

Especially with the overdrive button in ..

I've had auto vehicles before and the engine braking is still fine if the driver knows how to move the lever from 'D' to '2' or whatever suits the vehicle best. Good driving should not cause the occupants of every other vehicle in the vicinity to smell the burning brakes before they can see the vehicle.

[FJRider]

I've had auto vehicles before and the engine braking is still fine if the driver knows how to move the lever from 'D' to '2' or whatever suits the vehicle best.

Therein lies the actual truth. They either don't know you can ... or they're just too dam lazy to do so.

[Tazz]

Most of the people you're seeing are just bad drivers....the car has nothing to do with it. I follow rental Corolla hatch backs around the Queen Charlotte that can't corner without just about going off the other side of the road every week, and then they peg it on the little straights (a lot are good enough to pull in for you though which is cool.)

It's the 215/7500/15" tyres they're encumbered with.

I just replaced the ones on t'van with some new 17" wheels and 225/55/17 tyres.

Fookin' Huuuuge difference, you don't have to wait for the fuckers to roll off the rims before you actually begin to navigate a corner. I swear the tread on the old tyres was good as new, the sidewalls were down to air.

I hear ya. I took a rental campervan up to Auckland last year, a Hiace, and that thing was fawking scary on the corners at any pace other than slow motion. I drove with SAT's on my Safari for a while and they were 100 times better, which shouldn't be possible :/

The muppets in their SUVs over the Akaroa hill are so stupid that I can smell their burning brakes long before I can see them. Are people that incompetent that they don't even know how to use any engine braking? Are they stupid enough to believe that braking during a corner (not just before the corner) is a safe way to drive?

When we first moved to Akaroa this happened to my mum, in a Honda-matic Had to stop just before Barrys Bay, using the hand brake. She just didn't know how to drive to suit hills like that. In her defence the car was loaded up with the kitchen sink and that was the first and last time she had that problem.

Most are fitted with automatic gearboxes .... not much engine braking there.

Especially with the overdrive button in ..

Nah autos are fine on hills. You just need to know how to drive/pay attention.

[FJRider]

...Nah autos are fine on hills. You just need to know how to drive/pay attention.

They are ... and many don't ...

[Rhys]

Most modern autos change down gear going down hills or braking

[Brett]

I am seldom overtaken when driving my 1996 Prado diesel. Never in the twisties. I do not recall even once. Yes they understeer and will oversteer when pushed too hard - especially in the wet and you have to be careful of the weight transfer given the soggy, body rolling suspension. However, take time to learn how to turn them and you can still be safely quick on the road. There is no excuse for those SUV 4x4 driving clowns out there who can't stay in their lane or hold up the flow of traffic. It's just incompetence.

[FJRider]

I am seldom overtaken when driving my 1996 Prado diesel. Never in the twisties. I do not recall even once. Yes they understeer and will oversteer when pushed too hard - especially in the wet and you have to be careful of the weight transfer given the soggy, body rolling suspension. However, take time to learn how to turn them and you can still be safely quick on the road. There is no excuse for those SUV 4x4 driving clowns out there who can't stay in their lane or hold up the flow of traffic. It's just incompetence.

The incompetence of the majority makes the prospect of overtaking one .. just not worth the risk.

If the gain from overtaking is minimal ... its just not worth the risk.

[slowpoke]

What a fuckin' load of shit. Jaysus, why dontcha just find a nice innocuous public toilet where ya can just suck each other's knobs and slap each other on the back while ya do it. Really? SUV's? Are you really going to argue that SUV's are a problem on the hill? Are you really going to be so willfully blind that SUV's somehow swerve across the centre line to kill biker's....when other car's seem to have no problem whatsover avoiding them despite taking up 3 times as much room? Are you really going to be that stupid?

Of course you are! You are bikers! You are blessed with the collective skills and knowledge of Stroud, Harris, Briggs, Malloy, Hiscock and co which are included in the purchase price of every 2 wheeled conveyance. Hurrah for bikers!

Funnily enough all the accident stats point to 4 wheeled vehicles connecting with bikes mostly at intersections. Hands up all those who've had an accident at an intersection on the Rimutaka's! Hmmm, hard to believe but there are no raised hands.....I wonder if that's because there no intersections.....

The stats also point to 25% of bike accidents being single vehicle in nature....that means there are no cars, no trucks and NO SUV'S involved! It's just a rider running out of road/skill/knowledge/stopping distance and spearing off into the shrubbery/guard/rail/oncoming vehicle etc. It's a wild guess but I'm thinking this stuff doesn't happen at 50kph on suburban streets.....now it's revolutionary clear sky thinking but this stuff might, just might, be happening on those bits of road with a few twisties that we enjoy winding up the wick.

I don't know how many times I've been over that hill on car and bike and shaken my head at the 2 wheeled goobers who think they are at Manfeild. The number of bike crashes I've driven past far FAR outnumber the car crashes I've seen, and it was a TSS (?) sign that used to sit at the top of the hill advertising bike pick ups, not a car salvage business. What does it take for the penny to drop for you people?

Fuckin' wake up to yourselves: get outside the city and it's mostly going to be bikers killing themselves completely and utterly unaided. Or go back to burying your head in your mates groin as you continue to blindly revel in your misplaced superiority.

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~john/vfr/hurt.html

[Akzle]

25% of bike accidents being single vehicle in nature....

get outside the city and it's mostly going to be bikers killing themselves completely and utterly unaided.

25% = 'mostly'
...?

Sounds like you need a blowie.
Chill!

[MD]

What a fuckin' load of shit. Jaysus, why dontcha just find a nice innocuous public toilet where ya can just suck each other's knobs and slap each other on the back while ya do it. Really? SUV's? Are you really going to argue that SUV's are a problem on the hill? Are you really going to be so willfully blind that SUV's somehow swerve across the centre line to kill biker's....when other car's seem to have no problem whatsover avoiding them despite taking up 3 times as much room? Are you really going to be that stupid?

I hear what you're saying but you missed the point of my OP. I and I would guess a fair few riders accept that what we do is simply dangerous but that's our passion. Motorcyclists don't seem to be the folk that want to go through life wrapped in cotton wool. I'm also not saying SUVs are wiping us out on the hill. They're not, they're just forcing us to allow for their incompetence. I accept and allow for wide trucks that need more room to take a tight corner. My point is WE SHOULD NOT have to allow for $%#& SUV drivers to also be unable to take 4 out 5 corners on a hill without crossing the centreline and especially for an unacceptably long period.

The Piecock Hill is the worse. I have on numerous times meet a SUV coming around a bend towards me on my side of the road, but the bit that totally pisses me off is the driver makes barely any effort to correct his failing and get back to the correct side of his road. They literally make eye contact to say, I don't care I demand more road space so you better get out of my way. Drivers have actually continued onto the straight section coming out of bends and refused to alter their line, forcing me to move further to my left. I just can't fathom why drivers would be so inconsiderate and deliberately endanger others and for my observations it's 9 out 10 times a SUV

[Berries]

What a fuckin' load of shit..............................

Go on, tell us how your day went. Sounds like you had a bad one.

[Brett]

Fuckin' wake up to yourselves: get outside the city and it's mostly going to be bikers killing themselves completely and utterly unaided. Or go back to burying your head in your mates groin as you continue to blindly revel in your misplaced superiority.

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~john/vfr/hurt.html

This is somewhat true. Many/most motorcycle crashes I have witenessed or that have occured to those I know have been 100% rider error.

[mstriumph]

..........................

Am I overlooking another factor or could it just simply be as I've often said, most SUV owners are wankers

Just most?